Sakamoto To 2D Metroid Fans: Other M Is Your Game

Legendary Nintendo developer Yoshio Sakamoto has a long history of working on the side-scrolling incarnations of the Metroid series, so when we sat down to talk with him at this year’s E3, we couldn’t help but ask if he thinks the series will ever return to its roots.

Here’s what Mr. Sakamoto told us regarding the potential of a new 2D Metroid title:

“I certainly do get asked that question a lot. During the Prime series, people always asked me when are you going to make a 2D Metroid. So we realized there was a lot of demand there, and that’s actually what drove the initial process to work on this project. I realize that there’s a lot of influence over a control scheme in the way that you feel about a game: When it’s in 2D, it feels more direct in terms of moving exactly where you want. There’s a certain dynamism with the screen in that regard, so the player has an exact understanding of their location and orientation of their movement. We wanted to bring both elements of the immersion of 3D and that kind of connection to your location on screen that you get from a 2D game.

“So for all of these people saying that they really want a 2D Metroid, what I’d really like to say to them is I think this is your game. I’d like to see these people play it, and if they still want a purely 2D Metroid game after they’ve had this experience, then they should certainly let me know, then we’ll have to think about what to do next.”

Will Metroid: Other M satisfy old school fans of the series? It’s too early to tell, but check out our hands-on preview to see what we think of it so far.